


Retreating with the Shadow of War

by raspberry_reef



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Gen, Spoiler for early FE Shadow Dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 00:59:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19262767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raspberry_reef/pseuds/raspberry_reef
Summary: Not a real summary but I wish IS had given Cain more characterization than just reckless fool, so this is my first story and my gift to the very first summoned hero Cain (who is now +10)!





	Retreating with the Shadow of War

After I entered Askr, I had spent the next few weeks getting to know the castle, though Princess Sharena would never leave me alone. I had to request a lock on my door because of her. 

Anna already said there was no way for me to return home since my world wasn’t registered in their library and so there would be no existing portal for it. But would I even want to go home? 

“KIRAAAAN!!!! GET UP!” Oh gods, it was Sharena. 

And then she promptly destroyed the door. “Kiran! You’ve been sleeping all day and you haven’t summoned any new heroes since Virion!” I tried to wrap the blanket around me and turn to face the wall, but Sharena dragged me out of the bed and into the wash room. 

One hour later, an extremely annoyed summoner sat at the base of a stone monument with strange runes. I placed five orbs in front of me as Sharena instructed and pressed Breidablik’s trigger. Each orb soon changed into one of four colors: red, blue, green, and gray. Sharena started hopping from behind me, imploring me to pick the red one. Apparently she wanted to replace her brother with someone more fun. 

I pick up the red stone and insert it into the stone, jumping back once it starts to glow. The rest of the orbs disappear with my choice. Smoke exits from the base and a tall pillar of light expands to fill my vision, just like with Virion.

“I'm Cain, a cavalier of Altea. Oh, yes—Cain! Known far and wide as the Bull!”

I looked up to see a man in red armor with matching hair and eye color. How abnormal! I was about to introduce myself when Sharena started first. “Welcome to Askr! I’m Sharena and this is the Order of Heroes!” She started introducing all of us while Cain stood awkwardly confused. 

Alfonse cleared his throat to signal to Sharena that he wanted to speak. “Sir Cain, you are a knight to Prince Marth, correct?”

Cain lit up at the mention of his liege’s name. Something familiar to attach to in this strange new world. I would have liked that too. “You know of Prince Marth? Where is he? I have to be at his side!” Then again, I might have preferred nothing over the disappointment of realizing the attachment was to nothing more than a name. 

As per Anna’s orders, I said my practiced spiel. “I’m sorry, Prince Marth is not here, but I ask for your aid. This kingdom is under threat by Embla, a neighboring empire that wishes to take Askr by force. The Order of Heroes was formed to protect the borders against invasions, but Embla binds heroes to fight for them and the only way to free them is by defeating them. Our numbers are small, and we are always looking for new members to help. However, it is entirely up to you. None of our heroes are forced to stay.”

Cain didn’t answer right away, but I could tell he had already made up his mind. “So I’m a hero, huh? If there are people here who need my strength, then I’ll stay! I’ll never run away from my duty.” He sounded like he was going to add a word, but I wasn’t going to question him. We had just gained a valuable ally if Cain was as strong as he said. 

As I spent time getting to know him, he seemed happy enough here. He liked to talk about his mentor Jagen, his best friend Abel, and especially his liege Marth. Marth was talked about in high regard by everyone in the Order despite them never having met him. Apparently he was a man of great deeds and even greater virtue. 

Cain often trained with Alfonse and taught the young prince some new sword techniques. Outside of training, I could never get him to say a word about himself that wasn’t “the bull is the best knight in Altea!” I somehow felt that it was on purpose and that he was more aware of his words than his disposition might suggest.

Our next battle was against Veronica’s heroes from the World of Conquest. We had to face each member of the Nohrian royal family and their retainers, and Cain had been crucial to our success. However...

“Cain, you were supposed to retreat so that Alfonse could finish up with minimal damage. Now you have to sit out the next battle because we don’t have a healer to treat you.” His health was dangerously low because of an unexpected attack from Prince Leo.

“Ah, sorry. I just get carried away. You know, if I had Abel here-”

“Well, he’s not here! You need to take care of yourself, and that starts with listening to your wise strategist.”

He sighed, frustration becoming clear in his expression. “You sound just like Jagen. Always lecturing me about rushing in.”

“Well Jagen sounds very smart. You can’t be a knight if you’re dead.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cain became quiet and sulked off. Did I say something? 

Unfortunately I couldn’t follow up as my meeting with Anna couldn’t wait. The final battle was approaching. We managed to free the royals, but to our surprise, they chose to continue fighting for Veronica. Considering the atrocities of their own kingdom, I wasn’t surprised for very long. Alfonse always liked to tell me about the worlds of each hero before we set off, and Nohr had enough similarities to Embla that it wasn’t hard to picture Xander and his siblings sympathizing with Veronica. 

Dusk was already upon us by the time we returned to the castle, and my eyes had grown accustomed to sleeping on Askrian time. But I still loved to stay up, to see the stars without light pollution. A beautiful landscape in the sky every single night and the Askrians took it for granted. I guess I would too if I had never known anything else, but it was hard to imagine as someone who had never seen stars this clearly.

As the castle went to sleep, I stepped outside to my usual spot only to see Cain having taken it. I laid down beside him to get his attention, but he only gave me a passing glance, preferring to look up instead.

I whispered to him. “Are you mad at me?”

This time, he gave me his full attention. “What? I’m not mad at you, why would you think that? Are you mad at me?”

“No, no. It’s just you suddenly walked away from me after the battle with Prince Leo, remember? It was when you had to sit out, and I thought you were mad at my decision.”

“Oh, right. That. I wasn’t mad at you, I was angry with myself. Everyone tells me I’m too reckless and Abel’s not here to balance me out.”

“...I feel like you’re not telling me everything, but I’m not going to pry. Just know I’m here for you. I only want you to be safe.”

“Well I want everyone else to be safe! A cavalier should never retreat!” I was shocked at his outburst, and he sighed. 

“I’ll just tell you. It’s no good thinking this much. Back when I served King Cornelius, the father of Prince Marth, I fought against another country. I was ready to put my life on the line for the king, but... he forced me to retreat. He knew he was going to die and ordered me to run away so I could tell Prince Marth his last words. I left them to die. I can’t live knowing people will die if I run again. Retreating... the thought of it reminds me of that day.” He had sat up by now, his head hanging low and staring at the ground.

I sat up as well and placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “Oh Cain... Thank you for trusting me with your hard past.” I didn’t have much experience comforting veterans, so I thought of something else. “I... have my own friends and family. Every day I stay here, I think about how much they must be hurting because I am gone. And yet I continue to stay here. The world is here is so much prettier and the people are so kind... I guess I’m a coward too...” I didn’t mention how it was actually impossible for me to go home. Though given the choice, there was a good chance I’d choose Askr. 

Cain was quick to comfort me. “You’re not a coward! Your home might be suffering without you, but you are needed here! You are saving so many people by protecting Askr!” All this he said seriously.

Oh, the irony. “If I’m not a coward, then neither are you. Yes, you couldn’t be there for your comrades, but you lived and saved countless more lives by living. Prince Marth needs you, just like how you said Askr needs me, and you were able to help him restore peace. I don’t think your comrades or King Cornelius would have wanted it any other way.”

Now it was Cain’s turn to be shocked. Perhaps he had never heard a side to the story that wasn’t his own. “I see what you were doing. Okay, you win this time. You’re not a coward and... neither am I.” He pulled me into a hug and my eyes widened at the sudden contact. However, after my initial surprise, I hugged him back and rubbed his back to comfort him. I realized then that this was more than a physical war against Embla. It was a war against the shadows of war itself.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if anything is canonically wrong because I have not played Shadow Dragon, I found this info on the FE Wiki.


End file.
